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Ramblings for Retirement – Do Not Allow Evil to Prosper By Lee Hemen (retired pastor) January 11,2021 When Jesus told the crowd that the “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5 NIV)” He never meant for the believer to roll over and allow evil to prosper. He was speaking to a crowd of people who understood what it meant to live under the hardship of Roman rule. The meekness He was referring to here was neither weakness nor spiritual blindness. There are those in the Christian community who are ready and willing to try to fool you into thinking that as a believer you should just roll over and pray and everything will be okay. This is simply not true and is frightening in its ignorance. Jesus went on to develop what He meant when He continued by telling the crowd that day: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And

Ramblings from Retirement - Nativity By Lee Hemen (Retired Pastor) December 24, 2020 A couple traveling was nothing new especially at this time when everyone was required to head back to their ancestral places of birth. It was required and they had no choice in the matter. The government dictated that they had to go and be counted and so they went. To do otherwise would have brought the full force of the Empire down on them. This one couple walked side by side carrying a few meager possessions, food, and things for the baby that could be born any time soon. The young woman was pregnant. Her husband was worried because there were so many traveling and what if he could not find anywhere for them to rest and for her to be protected from the weather. She was pregnant after all and that alone was risk enough. Many women died in child birth but she was strong, young, and a lovely person who loved God and he was certain that God loved her. I wonder if he thought about what had transpired in b